July 28th was a historic moment for Team USA, and so was for our GOAT, Simone Biles! After her injury scare, her rising like a phoenix rising from the ashes, she came back to the stage to not only perform but to conquer it with her signature Yurchenko double pike! With such determination do you think anyone can defeat her in the Paris Olympics? Well, it might be possible! We at Essentiallysports, reporting live from Paris (sponsored by Olay Cleansing Melts), have the inside scoop from one of Simone Biles’ former 2016 “Final Five” teammates – Laurie Hernandez, who offered a compelling perspective on this question.

Laurie Hernandez, a two-time Olympic medalist with a gold in the team event and a silver on the balance beam from the Rio Olympics, knows the ropes of high-stakes competition. “It’s extremely stressful watching every athlete compete,” Laurie admitted. She emphasized that “At Paris 2024, these are the best gymnasts,” referring specifically to Team USA. However, she also pointed out that Simone Biles most favorable to win gold, could face a threat from two formidable athletes: one from Brazil and another from Australia.

When Shreya Verma, who is reporting live to us from Paris, posed a question during an exclusive interview, to Laurie Hernandez, “Rebecca is here! So, briefly, do you think she could be the next Simone Biles?” A witty laugh followed all over the room while this question came up, but Hernandez’s response about Rebecca Andrade was mild – she delivered a truly savage take, “My gut instinct is never say never, but then my gut instinct is just no, because star value is so incredibly high. It’s more factual; it’s not necessarily biased or out of friendship.”

Indeed Simone Biles has high star value. Looking back to her journey, Biles’s Olympic debut at 19 was nothing short of spectacular. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she played a crucial role in the Final Five’s historic success, contributing five medals – four individually (three gold, one bronze) and one as part of the team competition. Since then, Biles’s dominance has been the gold standard. In the same team, Hernandez was a part of! After the 2016 Olympics, Hernandez took a break from gymnastics to explore new horizons. But then came to secure her place in Tokyo 2020 but she did not qualify for the Olympic trials.

Despite the challenges, Laurie Hernandez never let Team USA stand-alone. She became their biggest cheerleader when she traveled to Tokyo as a commentator for NBC. After the Tokyo 2020 Games, Simone Biles continued to support Hernandez, celebrating her success with a tweet: “So proud of @TheLaurieHernandez! Seeing you shine as a commentator has been amazing. You’re killing it! 🌟🙌” Although Biles’s exit from Tokyo 2020 was a curveball and marked a tough chapter as it paved the way for the rise of Rebeca Andrade.

However, in an interview with EssentiallySports, Hernandez, further added about the threat to Biles, “Rebecca is an athlete I admire; I could do the best gymnastics I can do, but I can never get near Rebecca’s and Georgia-Rose Brown’s standards. So I took her to recognize that.” It seems Biles’s biggest threats are Rebecca Andrade and Georgia Rose according to Laurie Hernandez.

Well, Georgia-Rose Brown, known for her impressive feats at six World Championships and two Commonwealth Games, narrowly missed the Olympic mark in both 2012 and 2021. Despite this, she has claimed silver on the balance beam and bronze with the team in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Competing for Australia, Brown has also pocketed five bronze medals in the FIG World Cup series.

The 29-year-old earned her Paris spot by topping the uneven bars rankings at the 2024 Apparatus World Cup series. Although uneven bars are her bread and butter, she will also compete in the all-around event, which includes the vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor – an arena where Simone Biles also shines. With Rebecca Andrade in the mix, it’s anyone’s game. But…..!

At Sunday’s qualifying competition for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Rebeca Andrade proved to be a serious contender and a significant threat to Simone Biles‘ gold medal ambitions. Andrade snatched second place in the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals – only trailing Biles in each event. She also qualified in third place for the balance beam, behind Zhou Yaqin of China and Biles. With an all-around score of 57.700, Andrade finished as the runner-up, though she was more than 1.8 points adrift of Biles.

Nevertheless, Andrade was the only gymnast to get anywhere near Biles, finishing over 1.5 points ahead of Team USA’s Suni Lee, who took third. But Andrade’s journey to becoming a top competitor began back in 2021, laying the groundwork for this thrilling rivalry.

Since the Tokyo Olympics, where Rebeca Andrade clinched a silver medal and the vault title, she has continued to dazzle the gymnastics world. During this period, Simone Biles took a break in 2021. Andrade went on to secure the all-around title at the 2022 World Championships, earned silver in 2023, and captured the world vault title. With nine total world championship medals—including five last year—Andrade’s achievements are impressive. Now, Simone Biles has amassed 37 medals, but since the Tokyo Olympics, Rebeca Andrade has stepped up to the plate as the top gymnast after Biles.

At Tokyo 2020, she was the runner-up to Suni Lee and took home the vault title. With nine World Championship medals under her belt, including a historic silver in the team competition, Andrade’s success is all the more remarkable given her bounce-back from three ACL tears. But seems Andrade is expected to pull out all the stops in Paris Laurie Hernandez detailed her weapon.

However, Andrade managed to edge out Biles to win the vault gold at the 2023 World Championships, taking advantage of a rare mistake by Biles while performing the Biles II—the toughest vault in women’s gymnastics. Despite the intense competition, the two have remained supportive of each other. In a warm gesture, Biles even pretended to move a crown from her own head to Andrade’s when Andrade won the vault title, showing their mutual respect and camaraderie.

Laurie Hernandez weighs in on Simone Biles’s Setbacks and how Rebecca Andrade changed the game

In an exclusive interview with Essentially Sports, Laurie Hernandez further discussed Simone Biles’s challenges, saying, “And also know that a few weeks ago, Simone did hurt her Yurchenko double pike vault. she fell, the difficulty was so high that her score still surpassed everyone by almost a point.” Reflecting on the 2023 World Championships, Hernandez noted that Biles fell on her Yurchenko double pike and faced a 0.5 deduction due to her coach spotting her. Nevertheless, Biles secured the silver medal with an average score of 14.549, just 0.201 points behind Andrade.

Hernandez further added, “Rebecca has submitted a Yurchenko for official recognition, and if she competes with it, her score could definitely rival Simone’s. Never say never—anything can happen in the Olympics.”Reflecting on Simone Biles’ previous experiences, she remarked, “Sometimes falls can happen. Tokyo was Simone’s uncharacteristic moment, and yet Simone came back with a routine that was ten times harder. So, that’s the final deal: we don’t know what will happen.” Well, Hernandez knows the unpredictability of this sport!

While Rebeca Andrade has been seen practicing a triple-twisting Yurchenko that would be a game-changer if she nails it in Paris – something no female gymnast has achieved on the international stage. If she pulls it off, the move will be named after her, much like Simone Biles’s Yurchenko double pike, now dubbed the Biles II.  Andrade’s triple-twisting Yurchenko could score her 5.8 points, while the Biles II holds a value of 6.4 points. There are also murmurs that Andrade might attempt a Cheng vault with an extra full twist, which could potentially put her score on par with Biles’s projected 6.4 points. Do you think Rebecca Andrade and Georgia Rose are her biggest threats?

Meanwhile, Hernandez also spoke about her partnership with Olay during the exclusive interview with Essentially Sports. She not only discussed the true meaning of skincare but also shared her own routine with her fans. “So I noticed, waking up and having a clean face, and a moisturized face, the Olay cleansing milk has been great.” She also added how the product makes her feel confident as she faces the world.

Keep your eyes peeled for more details in her upcoming interview on Essentially Sports.